Cell Phones, Cancer, and Children: Possible Lethality from Technology and Other Damages

Cellphones and living brains should probably not be placed too close to one another, according to a panel of World Health Organization experts, reported by TARA PARKER-POPE and FELICITY BARRINGE. If the laws of physics hold, the threat is even greater to youngsters, whose skulls, separating their tender brains from the live microwave antenna at their ears, are thinner. More broadly, a growing body of evidence about the explosive consumption of media dumbing down our kids, injuring family life and other relationships, and contributing to kids’ obesity is just as alarming.

Bottom line: Just as parents must start instilling good cell-phone habits to try to prevent later brain cancer in their children, they should also stop giving unsupervised children access to the Internet, social media, videogames, smartphones, and tablets.

If you must give your child a cell phone, please keep it away from his ear. Encourage use at a distance through texting and using the loudspeaker and ear piece to lessen the risk of radiation damage. Similarly, introduce your child to tech devices thoughtfully and carefully, stay involved, and find ways to maximize the benefits of technology.

“Parents who are confounded by the digital age, parents who are worried about its effect on their children, parents who recognize that resisting it is of no avail---which is most parents---will find this book enormously helpful."